Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/483

 ii s. i. JUNE 11, i9io.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

475

(see 10 S. ii. 427). " Tittle " is the stop. A e i o u " and "our Father n require no

further explanation. Aberystwyth.

EDWARD BENSLY.

The hornbook was called a "criss-cross,' 1 "criss-cross row," or "cross-row" because of the (Christ-) cross which generally pre- ceded the alphabet in the earlier examples of this " tool of education." Some say that it was so called from the amuletic value which it received from the alphabet being written upon it in the form of a cross ; but I do not think any instance is known of a hornbook which bears the A B C in the form of the crux decussata. "E perce e" is evidently to impose upon the learner the necessity for repeating a letter so as to fix it in the memory, "e per se e," as it also occurs, meaning " e by itself e.' 1 As to the "tittle," the earlier " absey-books " fre- quently terminated with three dots or "tittles" placed triangularly, and intended to convey to the pupil, after the manner of mediaeval symbolism, that as there were three dots, yet but one final period, so there were three Persons in one God. These customary dots followed by " Amen " are alluded to in the ' Song of the Hornbook,' set to music by Thomas Morley in 1 608.

And per se has become the modern amperzand. " Ampussy and," that is, in full, " and per se and," is the name of the sign for the conjunction and &, which used to be printed at the end of the alphabet (Longman's Magazine, quoted in ' N.E.D.,' s.v. 'Ampersand'). "A per se " or "A per C " was applied to anything of an excellent nature or character, just as Al to-day means a high degree of praise, a person or thing that -is facile princeps, e.g., " Christ Jesus is ane A per C, And peirlesse Prince of all mercy" (' Gude and Godlie Ballates,' 1578, also quoted in the ' N.E.D.').

As to iste, &c., small wonder that the the demonstrative of the second person, considering that it took him thirteen " yeare" to get as far as q in his elementary alphabet !
 * ' skoler " stumbled when confronted with

J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

Wroxton Grange, Folkestone.

The price of hornbooks was usually very low. Peacham, in his ' Worth of a Penny, 1 mentions that coin as the price of one :

"For a penny you may buy the hardest book in the world, and which at some time or other hath posed the greatest clerks in the land, viz., an Horn- nook : the making up of which book employeth above thirty trades."

TOM JONES.

RUMBELOW (11 S. i. 224, 276). It would seem that this curious name is less rare than is supposed, as two families apparently unconnected bore it in recent days in the Isle of Wight. The head master of King Edward VI. 's Grammar School was so named; and the daughter of Dr. Maxwell, who settled for a time at Cowes, had married a man of this name. Y. T.

"BROCHE" (11 S. i. 389). Any kind of lance or spear could be called broche ; hence the modern French broche, a spit. Godefroy's ' Old French Dictionary * gives " Broche, arme pointue " ; and a quotation, " Garniz d'espees et de broches," i.e., furnished with swords and spears. The verb brocher often meant to use spurs to a horse. The 'N.E.D.* gives " Broach, a pointed rod of wood or iron ; a lance, spear."

WALTER W. SKEAT.

In mediaeval Latin broche is rendered brochia. It is used by Henricus de Bracton, lib ii. cap. 16, 6, " de Seriantijs, agens " :

" Si quis teneat per seruitium inueniendi domino Regi, certis locis et certis temporibus unum hominem et unum equum, et saecum cum brochia pro aliqua necessitate, vel utilitate exercitum suum contingente."

Fleta also uses the word, lib. i. cap. 11,

I-

Spelman, ' Glossarium,' 1626, quoting the same passage from Bracton (giving the reference as " lib. 2. Trac. I. ca. 6 "), adds :

"Dictum opinor a Gall, broc quod lagenam maiorem aut cantharum significat, plus minus 6. sextarios continentem : ut sit saccns ad deporta- tionem aridorum, brochia vero liquidorum."

Giles Jacob, ' A New Law Diet.,' says :

"That it was an Iron Instrument, you may learn from the following authority : Henricus de Haver- ing tenet Manerium de Norton in Com. Essex, per Serjeantiam inveniendi unum hominem, cum uno equo, etc., et uno sacco de corio, et una Brochia ferrea. Anno 13 Ed. I."

It was thus probably an iron can or pail.

Broche is also an awl or a spit, but does not seem to mean that in the passages here given, or that quoted by MR. FOORD.

JOHN HODGKIN.

In the ' Glossaire comparatif Anglo - Normand ' of Henri Moisy a verb brocher is included, and explained to mean " donner de 1'eperon a. n Two quotations are supplied. Possibly broche in the passage noted by MR. FOORD means a spur. Or does it mean a pike ? C. E. LOMAX.

Louth, co. Lincoln.